Studies in Horticulture and Botany
by virginiagirl101
Summary: Whenever Jeff does something to upset Annie, her favorite flowers show up in the study room. AU after season 1, blanket spoilers for that season. I realized half way through I swapped the order of Football, Feminism, and You and Intro to Statistics, so it's sort AU for those too. Rating to be safe, and for Pierce. Jeff/Annie
1. Intro to Horticulture and Botany

**AN: I was writing the second part of my Alternate Timelines verse, but this popped into my head and wouldn't leave. I will get back to this eventually. I got this idea from reading a Zoey 101 fanfic where Logan had the order for Quinn's favorite flowers saved on his phone, and I was like "how would this work with Jeff and Annie?" and this was born. **

**Summary: Whenever Jeff does something to upset Annie, her favorite flowers show up in the study room. AU after season 1, blanket spoilers for that season. I realized half way through I swapped the order of **_**Football, Feminism, and You and Intro to Statistics, so it's sort AU for those too. **_**Rating to be safe, and for Pierce. Jeff/Annie**

**Disclaimer: I own nothing. If I did, this would be actually published.**

Studies in Horticulture and Botany

It starts after the Día De Los Muertos party. After Jeff abandons the party to sleep with his Statistics teacher, after he is turned down by said teacher, after he has saved Pierce and danced with Annie, Jeff has to face Britta.

"So, that was a pretty douche-y thing you did," she starts.

"Well, Britta, sometimes life gives you circumstances, like having a hot teacher, and you need to make the most of them, such as going to a party to score with said teacher, and you just have to relax and go with the flow," he smirks.

"It was nice what you did for Pierce, though," she adds.

He scoffs. "Please, I had you, Troy, Shirley AND Annie basically giving me the puppy dog eyes. It was really self-preservation. If I hadn't given in then, who knows what I might have done." He wants to add how interesting her reaction to Slater had been, and is about to do so when she speaks again.

"Have you apologized to Annie?"

He tries to convey his disregard and surprise through a look. "No. why would I?"

"For ditching her party without even saying anything?"

"Um, why would I apologize for that? She really should have expected it . . . that's kind of what I do. Plus, I ended up saving it, so it really evens out."

Britta smiles slightly, as if she knows something he doesn't. "You know, right after you left, she called you up to dance with her in front of everyone, but you obviously didn't show. I wonder how it felt to have someone she looks up to prove to her that they're really not friends at all."

He opens his mouth to respond, but then shuts it. Britta gives him a smile that's crossed with a smirk and walks away. He didn't know that. And suddenly he feels like the biggest douchebag in the world. And not even the knowledge that Slater was going to sleep with him takes the sting away.

**ITBAH**

He manages to avoid everyone, and the weird feeling in the pit of his stomach, until Monday. That's because everyone is cool with him at school. Everyone, that is, but Annie. When he smiles at her in the hallway as they cross paths to go to class, she ducks her head and pushes by. When it's time for Spanish, Annie shows up right before class starts (which is EXTREMELY out of character, as she's usually 15 minutes early) and leaves as soon as Chang dismisses them, shoving her books in her bag and leaving without saying a word. Jeff watches her leave in confusion, grabs his bag, and rushes out the door, even ignoring the usual chance he gets to try his chances with Britta again. But Annie is gone by the time he's out the door, disappeared into the mill of people.

"As Jeff looked down the hallway, the strange feeling in his stomach strengthened. He didn't recognize it . . . but could it be . . . guilt? Could it be he cared more for Annie than he realized, and the thought of upsetting her, in a way, upset him?"

"Abed. What are you doing?"

"I'm narrating you."

"What?"

"I'm making your character more accessible to the audience by narrating your feelings and thoughts at the time, to make it obvious you have deeper emotions than you like to show."

Jeff looked down at Abed in what he hoped was confused disgust. "Well don't. It's weird, unnecessary, and most importantly, untrue."

"I admit that it could become a tacky gimmick if used too often or in the wrong manner."

And then he was gone.

**ITBAH**

It was a few hours later, after Jeff had been ignored by Annie three more times, and had genuinely shocked her when he said "hi" in the halls, that he sat himself down in front of Abed.

"Jeff. What can I do for you?"

"I messed up with Annie."

"Are you just coming to this conclusion?"

"And I MIGHT feel guilty about it."

"You definitely feel guilty about it."

Jeff looked around, noticing there was no one who he cared about who could see. He slumped in his seat. "What do I do?"

"In the movies, whenever something like this happens, the male can make circumstances better by making some sort of gesture. Annie is really a rather simple person, and she really is just convinced you don't care about her at all, so even the most basic and commonplace gesture will fix the situation."

Jeff looks up, confused. "What?"

Abed rolls his eyes. "Buy her flowers Jeff."

Jeff thinks about this. "What, so I just have to buy her a bunch of roses? It's that simple?"

"No."

"But you said . . ."

"I said to buy her flowers. However, anyone can and will buy roses. You want to prove to Annie that you value her friendship. Therefore you have to make this more personal."

"So I could add a note." Jeff nods.

Abed gets up and walks away.

"ABED! PLEASE! I'LL DO ANYTHING!" Jeff pointedly ignores the confused stares from around him. He is cool enough to pull it off.

"Purple lilies."

"What?"

"Annie's favorite flower. Purple lilies."

Abed is gone, but Jeff is sitting up straighter in his seat, pulling out his phone, and searching the internet for the nearest Floral Shop that sells purple lilies.

Later that day, Jeff walks into the study room to see that Annie has a vase with purple flowers in front of her seat. She's smiling wider than he's ever seen, and she has a slight blush on her face as the others interrogate her.

"Wow. Somebody must be feeling special today," he says, leaning against the door and smirking.

Annie smiles softly at him. "It's nothing," she insists.

"Um, Annie, that is a bouquet of flowers. Nobody gets somebody flowers for nothing. That would be like paying somebody because you like them," Troy states.

"Leave her alone," Britta says. "If she wants to keep this mysterious flower buying person from us, it is her right and prerogative as a woman to do so."

"Well, I think it's nice," Shirley says. "More men need to put effort into their relationships rather than just coasting by."

"Why does it have to be a man?" Britta insists. "Why can't it be a woman, who understands the importance of feeling important?"

"Ha, you would believe that, wouldn't you?" Pierce finally contributes. "Whoever did it because they wanted to get laid."

Jeff finally butts in. "With that . . . interesting . . . mental image, who's ready to study."

Everyone agrees, starting to pull out their books and sharing looks of disgust. In the chaos, nobody notices when Jeff's phone buzzes, showing a text from Annie.

"Thanks."

He smiles at her, and watches as she slips the unnoticed card into her backpack. It took him longer to come up with what to say than to buy the flowers. In, the end, he simply decided on "for a friend."

**AN: Okay, so this was originally supposed to be a one-shot, but now it looks like it will be a multi-parter. I don't know how long it will be, but it will go from this episode to around Christmas of Sophomore year . . . I've decided Annie's birthday is in December.**


	2. Pattern Formation and Maintenance

**AN: So I've been really busy, but I finally have time to sit down and write again, sorry for the wait. This turned out to be more of an exploration of their growing relationship, not sure what to think about that. Thanks for all the reviews and follows and favorites, it makes doing this so much better. Please review some more, and I hope you enjoy this chapter!**

**Disclaimer: I still don't own anything.**

**Summary: It takes a while for Jeff to notice, but it becomes a **_**thing.**_

_Pattern Formation and Maintenance_

It takes a while for Jeff to notice, but it becomes a _thing_. Basically, anytime he does something to upset Annie, which happens a lot, because he is apparently a horrible person, and really, she gets upset way too easily, and he's digressing. Basically, it becomes a _thing_, and he doesn't like it. He's not supposed to have _things_ with Annie, who is still a teenager, and is 12 years younger than him, and who he considers to be a friend, but who he doesn't really bond with. He's supposed to have _things_ with Britta, who is around his age, and jaded, and playing so freaking hard to get he doesn't even know if he wants her or to win anymore. But no, the most of a _thing_ he has with Britta is their pattern of him smirking and making a flirtatious comment, and her shutting him down in new and interesting ways.

The second time it happens is after the thing with Troy and football. At first he's really annoyed, because the Dean has no right to blackmail him like that, and he had to put effort to keep the fact that he's at the one school where he should have to use zero effort a secret, and then Annie happens. And maybe he did manipulate Troy for his own gains, but she has no right to get mad at him for it—not everything revolves around her—and his landlord is demanding his rent, and so he just snaps, and goes for the jugular. And as she walks away, he actually feels _guilty_ again, which is crap, and what is with this girl?

And even though they reconcile, he still feels a little bit guilty. Yes, he apologized, and yes, she's smiling at him again and responding to his "Milady" with "Milord", and they had an awesome time cheering on Troy, but he _made her cry_ in public, and that's not something he can just forget. And yes, her turning into him because of the creepiest mascot known to man means she's not ignoring him, and has probably decided to go back to normal, but he can't forget it. This school, he swears. It's making him _feel_ things.

So he tracks down her address from the Dean, and after the protective streak he gets when he finds out she lives in the worst part of town, he has purple lilies delivered to her with a note that says "sorry". (He's decided simpler is better).

And so it continues. At first it only happens once in a while, because as previously stated, while they are friends, they really don't bond at all. Then Debate happens, and suddenly Annie is no longer "Little Annie", but suddenly she lets down her hair and becomes both attractive, and a prospect, and if he is with her in that room any longer, everyone will regret it (he blames Shirley, for putting the thoughts in his mind, and Abed, for putting the thoughts in Shirley's mind.) So, for the first time in what might be ever, he runs away from a girl. It doesn't seem to matter so much, because the next day at the debate they're back to normal, and they're kicking Simmons' ass, but then Simmons flings himself at him. (And really, whose bright idea was that? He's lucky Jeff has such a strict workout routine, because anyone else would have dropped the dead weight right away.) And then Annie is kissing him, Simmons is on the ground, and the kiss is over before it really even began. He's equal parts shocked and turned on by her manipulativeness—it was exactly something he would have done—and they've won the debate.

Prior to all this, he buys her a single Lily to give to her whether they win or not. After the debate, he pats her on the head, and the Lily dies in his hotel room, because he's not an idiot and giving her a flower after the tension and kissing is a horrible idea, especially since _there is nothing going on between them_, no matter what Abed, Shirley, and even Britta might say. (To be fair, he's pretty sure Britta is just doing it to make fun of him.)

After Debate, they're closer. They start walking places with each other, and she helps him come up with snide comments for Britta and Leonard, and he tries to teach her how to stand up for herself more, because she's fantastic and doesn't need to shut down anytime somebody insults her. And then the thing with Senor Chang happens, and she offers to help him write his paper, an offer of forgiveness for making her life miserable with homework for a week. They end up having to go to her apartment, because study group goes long, and his motel room (he's working on finding an apartment, ok? His funds are just kind of depleted, and he's picky) is not conducive to studying at all. He shows up early, for him, which means he's only twenty minutes late. When she opens the door, she looks like she's going to yell at him for being late, but he cuts her off, shoving the bouquet of flowers into her hands. (It's a mixture of various purple flowers, because the flower shop was out of lilies. It's still pretty though, and he's heard a million times that it's the thought that counts.)

"Here," he tells her as he shoves them in her hands.

"Aw, Jeff. What are these for?" She looks like she's about to cry.

"I'm sorry about making you do more work. And, you know, thanks for helping me with the essay."

Her eyes go wide. "You didn't have to apologize. I mean, it was jerky, yes, but in the end it all worked out well. And you screwed up everything for the whole group, so you should apologize to them too. And you don't need to thank me, what are friends for." She looks at him with wide eyes.

"Yeah, well nobody else did the work I got you assigned. And don't try to deny it, Annie, I know you did both essays already." She opens up her mouth to respond, but he cuts her off. "Can we just study so I can get out of the hallway? I feel like your fellow tenants are going to murder me."

Annie steps away from the door. "Don't be silly, there haven't been any murderers here for, like, six months."

He walks into her apartment. "That? Is just creepy. We need to get you a new place."

For the rest of semester, he actually manages not to be a total jerk. This is probably because upon realizing how little of semester was left, Jeff puts more and more effort into winning over Britta, and between that and actually having to study for things, he has no energy to make nineteen year old girls cry. Pretty soon it's time for Christmas break, and he is getting into a fight with a huge bully, and Pierce tries his best to break his nose. (Oh yeah, he also finds out he might be failing Spanish, and he might crash Annie's final cramming party of one in the study room. And Annie might be a little dramatic about the possibility of him failing Spanish, but he manages to convince himself that it's because she wants the group to stay together next semester.)

Over break, he doesn't talk to anyone from Greendale. And he doesn't miss them at all, ok? Well, maybe seeing the Salvation Army Santas reminds him of Britta, and how she'd simultaneously rant about Santa and the corporate world's overarching grasp on society while donating money. And maybe the big Christmas release of some movie on the news reminds him of Troy and Abed, and makes him wonder if they are at the release. And when a scandal regarding Hawthorne Wipes is on the news, it takes everything in him not to call Pierce and offer legal advice, because if he wanted it, he would have asked for it. When his neighbors bring him cookies they just cooked it may remind him of Shirley, and he may wonder what she's cooking for Christmas. And finally, when he goes to a New Year's Party at his old firm, and purple is one of the main decorating colors, including purple flowers, he can't help but smile at the thought of Annie.

He makes a few New Year's Resolutions. First is that he's going to start being more relaxed and laid back, that he's not going to be uptight and freaked out about the craziness at Greendale anymore—he's obviously never going to escape it, and he really can't afford an ulcer. Second, he's going to add to his exercise routine—just because he's no longer a lawyer doesn't mean he no longer needs to look his best. He's also going to go through his wardrobe and get rid of anything that doesn't make him look absolutely fantastic (which is going to be difficult, because, let's face it, he looks fantastic in a lot of things.)

When he comes back, he can't believe how happy he is to see the group again. And then he becomes editor, and he promotes Annie to lead reporter. He expects a little backlash from the rest of the Newspaper staff, accusations of favoritism and all that, but it turns out nobody actually wanted the job, because it requires a lot more work than most people were willing to put in. But then Annie goes kind of crazy about the racial profiling thing, and the Dean is being difficult, so he yells at her. And then he feels awful—which, whatever, he's used to it. And this time, she comes in and apologizes to him, and tells him she understands, and he admits to Abed that he now understands the benefits to his new persona as Hawkeye.

Abed, in an attempt to prove that he is ridiculously like Radar reads his mind after Annie leaves. "You still feel guilty, don't you?"

"What? No. She apologized, we all know that I was in the right—she was being very overzealous, and it's not like the Dead meant to be racist."

"Yes but it's still in character for you to feel guilty."

"What are you talking about?"

"It's simple. In general, you don't care about how others feel. No, that's not true—you pretend to not care about what other people feel, at least the people in our study group. However, when people go out of their way to show they care for you, you are willing to show you care for them, while still pretending you are apathetic about everything. Also, your character model always has a soft spot for one person in particular. At the beginning of the season, it was assumed that person would be Britta, but it has since become obvious that it is Annie."

"I don't know what" Abed cut him off.

"Annie is the one person that you consistently put effort into things for. You showed up at her party, and even though you ended up abandoning it, you did come back and dance for her, giving up a chance to sleep with that professor. You actually put effort into debate for her. She's the only person you apologized to after the debacle with Chang, and you consistently apologize to her for things—you even send her flowers."

"That doesn't mean," he was cut off again.

"You do care for the others, including Britta—she is still your main love interest. Maybe. I'm still confused about that. Anyway, you care for us, but you don't show it to us as obviously. Which makes sense, as Annie is the only one who really needs it to be shown. Britta is confident in who she is, and she speaks snark, so you can communicate through that. Shirley and Pierce are both older with more life experience, and while they appreciate it when people show they care about them, they don't need it. Troy was popular in high school and has never really experienced isolation. I can read people better than anyone, I know you care. Annie is used to having no one who really cares about her, so she's not used to reading things as people caring about her." Abed looked at him critically. "It's okay, you know. It doesn't mean you care about her more than us, it just means you're being a good friend. Buy her the flowers and everything will go back to normal." Then he was gone.

Jeff had the flowers delivered to Annie's desk. To his surprise, she kept them there. Also, nobody on the newspaper team seemed curious about them at all, which was intriguing because if this was study group, everyone would be interrogating her. It took him about a week to realize that this was because things randomly appeared on desks at the newspaper all the time, including but not limited to: flowers, a baseball, a limited edition Dungeons and Dragon figurine, an increasing collection of Magic cards, and nail polish.

A week was also how long it took him to realize that he'd be spending a lot more time with Annie. Because Annie was lead reporter, a lot of the stories were hers, which meant that when going over the stories, he had to talk to her a lot more. This meant that they argued a lot more, as Annie always wanted to write stories that were overly ambitious, so he had to ask her to tone it down. Usually they came to a compromise, but about every other week, they ended up yelling at each other in his office. This meant that Annie's desk had an almost permanent collection of flowers on it. By this point, he had the flower shop on speed dial, and they knew him by name.

They didn't have an argument the likes of which they had had at the beginning of the year until February. Yes, she was upset when she found out he was with Michelle, but that was mostly because of her worry over how being in a relationship with his professor would affect his grades. Then Vaughn happened.

Really, Annie should have known better. She knew how much he didn't like Vaughn, especially after the whole Britta thing. And she should have realized that Britta would not react well to her dating the ex-boyfriend who called her a 'B' in front of the entire school. And this was Greendale, she should have expected something crazy to happen. And, he can admit, he probably shouldn't have enlisted Britta to help—if it had only been him, Troy would have figured it out himself, and he wouldn't have blamed them. But he told Annie and now Annie is upset because of something Jeff did—is really upset for like the 5th time this year, and he doesn't know if he can fix this.

Then they have the confrontation in the study room, and Britta accuses him of being jealous, which is ridiculous. Because he was just trying to protect Annie, who he cares for as a friend, and even if Britta is jealous, it doesn't mean he was—he's happily in a relationship! But then Annie refers to their kiss as "taken for the team", and he has to admit that that hurts. Because he'd rather enjoyed that kiss, even if he would never admit it on pain of death. His reaction is instinct, and she gives him a pointed look, so he covers by saying it was "strategic and joyless", and she is apparently reacting on instinct, so he challenges her with a look, and she backs down, and he's kind of disappointed, but he would never admit it on pain of being lame.

Then Troy accuses him of being "weirdly specific", and he has to retaliate, and there is a quick airing of inappropriate discussion of other group members. And then he has to give that speech about them all being 'sexual prospects', and glances are exchanged. And after he looks at Britta for five seconds and she turns around almost immediately, he turns his gaze to Annie, and takes the opportunity to look at her, because, really, he's not attracted to anybody else in the study group, however remote his attraction to Annie may be. Then she looks at him, and his heart beats faster, and she smiles at him, and he smiles back involuntarily, and that's enough, thank you, and he whips his head around. To face Abed. Who gives him the creepiest eyebrow waggle he has ever seen. No. Just no.

Then the douche who started the whole mess in the first place shows up and plays a stupid song, and Annie starts crying happy tears, which he's never seen before. And it's kind of adorable, but Jeff can't help but wish, for just one moment, that he had put that look on her face. He quickly smashes that thought, because he _has a girlfriend_, and he's just not that mushy. (The look of shock on her face when she sees her desk overflowing with flowers is almost as satisfying though.)

After that, he and Annie sort of grow closer. As the only two people in the group with real relationships, they often leave study group earlier than the others, so as to put time into those relationships. They also are working on the latest edition of the Greendale Gazette, which under Jeff's tutelage, has become surprisingly successful. Annie becomes a lot better at taking criticism, and so he stops having to dish out money for flowers.

He sleeps with Britta during paintball. They agree to keep it a secret, and he's fine with that at first, but then he decides he might actually want a relationship with her, so he starts pursuing her, but she shuts him down at every turn. He doesn't know why he feels like he should be sending Annie flowers the entire time.

The next time he upsets her is after the thing with Spanish class. at first, he is genuinely angry with her—thanks to her, he wasted two semesters worth of classes AND money, plus his Lexus got trashed. Also, it kind of hurts that she's so convinced that without the same class, they won't be friends anymore. So when he interrogates her, he doesn't hold back—he attempts to verbally tear her apart. And when she storms out crying, he refuses to feel any guilt. She deserved it, and as soon as they figure out how, they are going to study and pass this exam without her.

His self-righteous anger lasts until he thinks she's about to be murdered by an insane former Spanish teacher. Although he's still angry, he's a little worried, and when he kicks down the door and she's safe, all he can feel is relief. He starts feeling guilty after that—she really just wanted to be friends still, and it isn't her fault that she doesn't have the best experience with that, and really they kind of proved her point. So he sends the flowers that night, as a way to preemptively head off the guilt, and when they both apologize the next day as he suggests everyone take Anthropology, he feels like maybe he's learning.

Then the end of the year comes, and he finds out she's leaving for Denver with Micro nipples to spend the summer there. And what the hell, really, this is the same girl that just sabotaged their education out of a fear of losing them. And then Britta and Michelle are arguing over him, and it's weird because he's tried with both of them, and he and Britta have just gotten into a healthy friendship, and Michelle dumped him. And then he finds out Annie might be leaving permanently, and for some reason that makes him more confused than he has felt all night, so as she leaves, he holds her tighter and longer than he might have otherwise, and confesses to her that he's going to miss her.

And then Britta and Michelle both announce they love him in front of the entire school, and everyone is yelling at him to choose, and it all feels so wrong and confusing. He's grateful for the fight, because it gives him a chance to run away.

And then Annie is there. And for some reason, that means he can finally breathe again, that he can finally think again. So he tries to explain it to her—being two different people, living two different lives—and she understands.

And then she kisses him again. Just like with the debate. And like with the debate, it's over way too quick. So he kisses her back.

**Author's note 2: So this kind of got away from me. I was expecting a short chapter, and sixish pages and over 3000 words later, this is what came out. I hope it was worth the wait! Again, thanks for the reviews and follows, it made writing this a lot easier. Please review and let me know what you thought!**


	3. Interlude

**Author's Note: So it's been a while, but I'm back! This was **_**supposed**_** to be the last chapter. However, as with every story, this one got away from me. So, I'm thinking it will be four chapters now, but it might end up being longer. Don't worry, I know what I want to do, I just don't know how many words it will take me to do it! Thanks for all the reviews and follows, and keep reviewing, as feedback makes this a lot easier! I hope you enjoy!**

**Disclaimer: I own nothing!**

**Summary: After the Tranny Dance, but before the rest of the summer, Jeff has some things he needs to sort out.**

_Interlude_

Jeff kisses Annie until the sound of distant sirens forces them to break apart. They stand there, inches apart, for a few moments until everything comes back to him, and he forces himself to step away from her, running his fingers through his hair. Crap. Crap crap crap. "So," he starts awkwardly, before Annie picks up the conversation.

"That was . . ." she trails off.

He tries again. "You kissed me."

She gasps in offense. "You kissed me back! And then you kissed me again!"

"Yeah well you kissed me back," he argues. "Besides I wouldn't have done it if you hadn't kissed me first." Really, what was _with_ that?

"Well I wouldn't have kissed you if you hadn't been _looking _at me!" she shouts at him.

They stare at each other before bursting out into laughter, because they're seriously yelling at each other, arguing, over who's fault it was that they kissed.

"Listen," he starts, because he's the mature responsible adult and he has to end this. "That was a . . . mistake. This whole night, it's pretty much all been one mistake."

She looks slightly hurt, but unsurprised. "Yeah, I know," she smiles bitterly. "You have to choose between Slater and Britta . . . there's not really any room for me in the mix." She starts to walk away.

"What?" He asks, causing her to stop. "No. I mean that is a big deal—I definitely have to deal with the whole Michelle/Britta triangle- but mostly because it was an insult to you."

She turns around, looking slightly shocked. "What?"

He shifts uncomfortably, wondering why he had to open his mouth—why anytime she was sad, he had to make it better. "Annie, I'm not good with words, or emotions, or honesty, so I'm only saying this once, but . . . you deserve better than being kissed because some guy is confused about two other girls. You deserve to be kissed because some guy is so focused on you that not kissing you is no longer an option, ok?"

She smiles, tearing up slightly. "Really?"

"Yes, really," he smiles back. "Now, let's get you home."

She nods, picking up her luggage. "Luckily I kept the apartment."

"Wait, why?"

"Well, I wasn't going to, but I thought what if I missed you guys?"

He nods. "Do you, um, need a ride?"

"Yeah, if you don't mind."

In the background he can hear the sounds of a large group of people leaving the building. "Um, we better leave now before this gets _really_ awkward," he tells her.

Her eyes widen in understanding. "Yeah," she agrees.

They stare at each other for a few seconds, before he grabs one of her bags and her hand, and yells "run," dragging her with him to his beat up Lexus. They pull out of the parking lot just as Britta and Michelle walk out of the building, anger in both their eyes. He drops her off at her apartment, knowing that it's not a good idea for him to come up.

The next day, he orders her a bouquet with the note, "We're good, right?" he gets a text. "Yes :)." great. Now he just has to deal with the other problem in his life.

**SIHAB**

Jeff manages to avoid everybody from the study group for about a week. He means to avoid everybody for a week, but Michelle ruins his plans about halfway through the first day, when she shows up on his doorstep. He answers it warily, wearing an old pair of jeans and a t-shirt, because even he can't look perfect all the time and as previously stated, he was avoiding people. He covers for his surprise pretty well, though. "Michelle. Hey."

"Jeff."

He gives her a grin/smirk, putting on the act. "What are you doing here?"

She glares, not falling for it. "I just wanted to thank you."

"Oh yeah, what for?"

"Proving my point."

"What point would that be?"

"The point about how I was right to end our relationship, because obviously you still need to grow up and learn to commit."

That . . . kind of hurts. He feels like he did grow up a bit this year. And really, he hadn't asked her to confess her love for him in front of the whole school. So he lashes out. "I'm a child?" He starts by asking. "Let's get this straight—you dumped me! I was committing, and being in a relationship, and you dumped me for whatever stupid reason, without any notice. And then, when I try to move on and show interest in somebody else, you come waltzing back into my life and expect me to trail after you like a puppy, picking up right where we left off. And when you found out I'd grown, that I didn't say yes right away, you proceeded to act like a toddler who has been denied the right to play with a toy and entered a contest over me that was all about _you_ winning, and had nothing to do with _me_! And when I walked away because you were being ridiculous, you blamed your embarrassment on me, and refused to accept blame, before showing up and confronting me about something which is _your fault_. And _I'm _the child?!" He was breathing heavily at the end of his rant, and she was looking at him with an unreadable expression.

"At least I didn't fake my undergrad degree and have to come to _Greendale_ to fix my mistakes."

He snorted. "Going back to the same old argument, huh? Well, I may have faked my Bachelor's degree, but I do have a _Law degree_. And maybe I came running to Greendale, but you're teaching here. I have a chance to escape, hell I probably will. But you, you will be here your whole life."

It looks like she's about to tear up, but before he can be sure, she takes a deep breath. "Well, I didn't come over here to fight. I came to tell you that I withdraw what I said last night. If Brittles wants you, she can have you." Then she does tear up, but she storms off before he can say anything.

It's weird, but he doesn't feel guilty about it. If it had been Annie, or even Britta or Shirley, he would be beside himself trying to fix what he had said. But with Michelle, he just is glad that it's over.

It's been a week since then, and he hasn't talked to anyone involved in the situation since. He did run into a partner at his old law firm, and said partner had hired him as a consultant "to keep him seasoned." Basically, he's doing first year law student stuff, collecting files from the basement and bringing them to the related associate, but it's a job that's paying, and it's close to being in his old kingdom. Now, however, he's ready to talk, so he texts Britta. "Sorry for the radio silence. Coffee?"

She texts back 20 minutes later. "Might as well." And now all he wants to do is call Annie. Okay, he's wanted to call her since the blow down with Michelle, because Annie is kind of his best friend in the group, and he really wants to talk to her. But he remembers what he'd said, and he was right—he doesn't want to drag her into the whole thing, she deserves better.

The next day, he meets Britta in a local coffee shop off campus (it's the only one she'll go to, because it's local, even though the coffee tastes like crap.) She's there when he gets there, and the expression on her face is nervous, but he shoulders through his awkwardness and sits down with her, causing her to look at him.

"So." He starts, causing her to smile slightly.

"So."

"First of all, I'm sorry."

She looks a little surprised. "What?"

"I'm sorry. I was overwhelmed and emotional, and you and Michelle were kind of scaring me, you know." He waits until she nods to go on. "And then you both said you loved me, and there were all those people expecting me to choose, and I've never done well under pressure. So I panicked and ran off, and it was really unfair to you, and I'm sorry." And he really does feel that way. With Michelle, he was annoyed, because it really was her fault, and he'd expected more from her—they both knew she didn't love him, he'd seen the calculated expression on her face. Also, Britta hadn't immediately confronted him.

She smiles slightly at him. "It's ok. It was kind of unfair of me to put you on the spot like that, I don't know what I was expecting."

He smirks at her. "Kind of?" he waits til she concedes with her face before going on. "Here's the thing, though: I don't love you." She looks kind of confused and is about to open her mouth, but he cuts her off. "I know I've been after you for the whole year, so this might confuse you. But I think we both know after half a semester it became more about winning than it did winning you over. And then we became friends—really good friends, and it was nice, not having that pressure. And we slept together, and our friends were on us about our sexual tension, so I started going after you again, but let's face it, we had no real moments. In fact you shot me down at every turn until Michelle showed back up, and I just don't love you. I'm sorry." He's wincing now, waiting for the yelling.

Britta just snorts. "Wow, somebody's full of themselves."

He freezes. "Wait, what?"

"I don't love you either. You're right, we're friends. We might have been something more, even after I shot you down, but I don't think we will be, not after last week. I only started really going after you because of Slater, but that was more out of competition, and because I felt we had to. I like our 'doesn't hear about boyfriend, will occasionally pet sit' friendship thing we've got, I don't want to ruin it."

He grins at her. "Ok, maybe I am a bit full of myself, but can it really be helped? Friends?"

She smiles back. "Friends."

And that's that. afterwards, he sends out a mass text to the group. "Talked to Britta. Everything's ok—we're friends." He get's positive responses to that, except from Shirley, who is sad that they're not together. Abed deals with that, texting about how Jeff and Britta are no longer the OTP of the group, and haven't been since mid fall, although he can only see that in hindsight. Everyone is too confused about what an OTP is to read into the rest of that statement, and everything is back to normal.

**Author's Note: So there's not really much Annie in this, but I think that Jeff needs to deal with the outcome of the Tranny dance before he can grow with her. Also, about Britta: I think she and Jeff make good friends, and they'd both come to peace with being friends before this, so this isn't too out of character, I don't think. (Also, I think Britta is probably the only person, other than Abed, who realizes that there is, in her mind, a weird tension thing between Annie and Jeff at this point—she is the one who calls him out on being jealous of her and Vaughn. In my mind, she's one of maybe two people who wouldn't be surprised to come out and find them kissing.)**


	4. Fun in the Summer 101

**Author's Note: I'm back! The bad news is this isn't the last chapter. The good news is that the story is finished, I just have to finish editing. I hope you enjoy, and please remember: reviews are love!**

**Disclaimer: I still own nothing.**

**Summary: It takes another week for somebody (Shirley) to mention a group get together.**

_Fun in the Summer 101_

It takes another week for somebody (Shirley) to mention a group get together. Jeff hasn't talked to anybody from the group since the 'we're ok' text, but that wasn't because he was avoiding them, it's because he has been helping one of the guys at the firm with a big case that was all hands on deck. Coincidentally, it's that Friday, when it's all over, that Shirley's text comes out.

'Hello everybody! I just modified my brownie recipe, and you are all welcome to come try it.'

Jeff responds with something about carbs and his body being unable to handle them, but then Britta mocks him, and Annie guilts him, and everyone else is going to be there, so he decides that a few carbs won't kill him. This is how he finds himself leaving work and going straight to Shirley's. Her kids answer the door, informing him that everyone else is in the kitchen, before running off up the stairs, shooting each other with Nerf guns. He wanders down the hallway they pointed out, and it doesn't take long for him to find the kitchen.

When he gets there, he can't help but smile. Troy appears to be trying to fit as many brownies as possible in his mouth, with Abed keeping count and Pierce cheering him on. Shirley looks like she couldn't decide between being overjoyed that her baking has gone down so well, and grossed out at Troy's antics. Britta just looks disgusted, but she was also devouring a brownie at the same time. (Little known Britta fact: brownies were her weakness.) Annie is standing a little away from the group, but she had a small smile on her face and a brownie in her hand. He walks into the room, prompting greetings of "Jeff!" from the group, and a muffled "Mffff" from Troy. Smoothly grabbing a brownie, he stands between Britta and Annie.

"So, how many brownies HAS Troy fit in his mouth?" Jeff asks.

"He's going on five," Britta answers, sounding impressed and . . . slightly jealous.

"He would have more, but every time he gets close, he can't resist the urge to swallow one," Abed informs him.

Troy proceeds to prove the point, swallowing down the brownies in his mouth. "I can't help myself," he moans, "they're just so good."

"You know what else is good?" Pierce starts, only to get cut off by groans and exclamations of "no!" "Young people these days, have no appreciation for the fineness of women."

Jeff shoots a weirded out look at Annie, who immediately turns her face away. He turns back to look at the group, but they are focusing on Pierce with disgusted looks, except for Abed, who is looking at him and Annie with a deciphering look. Deciding to change the subject, Jeff takes a bite of his brownie. "You're right, Troy. These brownies are irresistibly delicious. You might want to cut back, we don't want a repeat of the giant cookie incident, do we?"

Troy, who has picked up two more brownies, considers that before nodding with a sigh. Abed and Pierce both look vaguely disappointed. Shirley and Britta just look relieved. Annie looks confused, causing him to realize she wasn't there for the giant cookie incident. She opens her mouth, presumably to ask, but he catches her gaze and shook his head. She blushes, looking down. Jeff smiles slightly, before turning back to the group, who are all ignoring him, except for Abed, who is giving him another unreadable expression.

"So," Shirley starts, "Jeff, Britta, how is it to be together after everything that happened between you?"

"Um, normal, like last semester." Jeff starts, confused.

Shirley's face falls. "Really? You're not going to be together?"

Britta gives him a look, before taking a deep breath. "I would just like to make this clear: I don't love Jeff. I got caught up in the competition with Slater, and everything I did and said was just to win. Jeff and I are just friends, and we make pretty good friends." She smiles at him, and he smiles back.

"But, what about your attraction to each other?" Shirley asks.

Jeff is confused again. "Shirley, we're not attracted to each other. Not anymore, at least."

"But I thought, with the love declaration, and the paintball sex . . ."

She was cut off by five different voices yelling "WHAT!?" in varying degrees of shock/disgust.

Jeff looked over at Britta in confusion. "You TOLD her?"

Britta looks remorseful. "It was at the Tranny Dance, in the heat of the competition."

"Remind me never to tell you anything again, as apparently you blurt things out when you're competing with someone."

"Wait," Troy cuts of their bickering. "You two really had sex?"

Britta sighs. "Yeah, it was during paintball, when we the last two left,"

"And it didn't mean anything." Jeff finishes, looking at Shirley pointedly.

"I _knew_ something was different that day." Abed states.

"Look guys," Annie finally speaks ups, looking awkward. "I understand the curiosity, but this isn't really our business. If Jeff and Britta want to have sex, or date each other, that's up to them and it's also up to them if we know about it."

"Thanks, Annie," Britta says with an awkward smile. "But it really was a onetime thing. Jeff and I are just friends, and we're both 100% okay with that, right Jeff?"

Jeff looks up from where he'd been trying to catch Annie's eye with no luck. "Yeah, right. Now, can we talk about how delicious these brownies are?"

There's noises of agreement, and Shirley brightens up at the sight and sounds of people appreciating her baking.

Later on, Jeff gives Annie a ride home. It's the first time they've been alone since the kiss, and at first it's awkward.

"So," Annie starts. "Have you talked to Slater?"

He gives her a sideways look, before concentrating on the road. "Yeah, she came over the next day."

"How did that go?"

"Well that depends on who you ask, I suppose."

She looks at him sympathetically. "Was it that bad?"

"I suppose that depends on your definition of bad," he tells her, fighting a smile.

She looks over at him, confused for a second, before she sees the smile he's trying to hide. "Jeeeeef." She wines theatrically. "What happened?"

He sighs. "She came over and basically informed me that I'm a commitment phobe who never grew up, and who will never amount to anything."

"You know that's not true, right?" she asks, and the look on her face makes him feel better than he has in a really long time, possibly since before he became a lawyer.

"I know. I told her that too."

She snickers. "Really? Did you get all formidable on her?"

He grins. "Oh yeah. I got mean. I think I actually made her cry a little."

"I kind of feel sorry for her."

He sighs. "Me too. Which is all your fault, by the way," he stops to take in the surprised/pleased/satisfied look on her face. "But mostly, I don't. She was the one who came in and started all the drama in the first place, so, she got what she wanted, deep down."

She's frowning at him again, but he's willing to let it stand. And then he's at her apartment, and he pulls up to drop her off. She starts to get out of the car, but stops when he gets out too.

"Jeff, what are you doing?"

"Annie. We've been over this. It's after midnight, and you live in a really crappy part of town. I'm walking you up."

"You don't have to do this. I know you'd probably rather be with Britta or something."

"Wait. What?" He's surprised.

"I mean because the two of you are obviously closer than we are."

"Because we had sex?"

"And you guys have had lots of other bonding experiences."

"Annie, believe me. If I wanted to be with Britta, I would be with Britta."

"Really?" she smiles shyly at him.

"Um, yeah. Besides, you're kind of my favorite, you know?"

"Yeah?"

"Yeah." They are outside her door now, smiling at each other like dorks. "Just don't tell Pierce. He'll be heartbroken."

She giggles walking inside the door. "Night Jeff."

"Night Milady."

**SIHAB**

After that, Jeff sees the study group more often. He and Britta get together at least once a week at a bar to drink, make fun of the other patrons, and complain about various things, and usually one of the others has to come and "drag your sorry drunken asses home", as Shirley says. He and Shirley meet up for coffee once a week to gossip (not about anyone they mutually know, as this saves for awkwardness). He sees Troy and Abed every few days, when they get together to play video games on Pierce's huge TV screen. He and Pierce don't really hang out, but Jeff sees him whenever he hangs with Troy and Abed, as he will usually come in and insult them before wandering off to do who knows what. And he sees the whole group when they meet up once a week for movie night at Pierce's.

As for Annie, he sees her more than the others. She is working at a bookstore 3 blocks down from his old law firm, and when he finds this out, it makes sense they run into each other. They meet up for coffee on Mondays, and lunch on Wednesdays, and he drives her to Movie Night on Fridays (and sometimes she shows up to play video games, but she sucks). They also text each other, a lot. For the first week or so it's awkward and they don't really know how to relate to each other, but then Jeff makes a joke about her infatuation with Troy and she makes a joke about how he fawned over Britta for a year, and after that it's back to normal for both of them.

Life continues on this way until the middle of July, which is when Jeff has finally dropped his guard about keeping the kiss secret, which is of course when it all comes out. They are playing Truth or Dare, and it is Annie's turn.

"Annie, truth or dare?" Britta asks.

"Um . . . truth."

"When was the last time you were kissed?"

Annie blushes, and sort of zones out. Jeff is pretty sure of that, because he's zoned out too—to the night of the Tranny Dance, which was the last time he was kissed. (After all that drama he had decided to put off opening himself up to the possibility of more drama.)

"Annie? Annie!" Britta is trying to get Annie's attention, who has now really zoned out (and yes that makes him feel proud of himself. He should probably hate himself for that, but . . . he doesn't.)

"What? Oh, sorry," she blushes even deeper. "Um, it was the night of the Tranny Dance."

"Really?" Shirley asks.

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"It's just that, from the way you were zoning out, Vaughn must have really improved as a kisser." Britta answers.

Annie is still clearly zoned out, because instead of dropping it, she distractedly answers "It wasn't with Vaughn." Immediately after, the reality of what she's done obviously hits her, as she pales dramatically.

"WHAT!?" everyone choruses.

"Wait if it wasn't with Vaughn, who was it?"

"Um . . . nobody?" Annie squeaks out, looking down.

Everyone stays in a shocked silence, staring at her. Jeff is beginning to feel awkward, desperately trying to come up with an explanation that will appease everyone. Then Abed happens.

"While Annie is pointedly not looking at us, she is angling herself away from Jeff, specifically. Also, Jeff's 'what' was less shocked than ours, and what with Annie leaving Vaughn and Jeff walking away from Britta, it is very likely they ran into each other that night, and it would be very typical for the two of them to have kissed if that happened."

"What?!" Everyone is more shocked now.

"Annie, you and Jeff?" Shirley asks.

Annie's head flies up, meets his eyes briefly, and then jerks to look around. "What? No. There is no 'me and Jeff.'"

"But the two of you did kiss," Britta states.

Annie's face crumples. "I'm sorry Britta. I was just confused with Vaughn, and transferring, and I realized I didn't want to leave Greendale, and Jeff was still there." When Britta still looks skeptical, Annie deflects. "Besides, he kissed me back!"

Now everyone's accusatory faces are turned to Jeff. Remind him never to teach Annie anything about standing up for herself ever again, if this is what it gets him. "Thanks for that, Annie," He says sarcastically. "And you kissed me first!"

"Yeah but you came back for seconds!"

"You weren't exactly complaining at the time!"

"Neither were you!"

"GUYS, GUYS!" Troy interrupts, causing them to turn back to the others. "We get the picture, there was a lot of kissing."

Britta sort of punches him in the arm. "I can't believe you kissed her right after I'd confessed my love for you!"

"You DON'T love me!"

"But you didn't know that, did you?"

He sighs, not wanting to get into another back and forth. "You're right. I'm sorry. I just . . . like Annie said, we were confused and not thinking clearly."

"Okay, so the two of you kissed," Troy starts. "Does that mean you're together now?"

"What? No!" He answers. "She just told you that!"

Abed looks confused. "Why not?"

"I don't know, maybe because our kissing was clearly a mistake?"

"He has a point," Troy starts. "In the movies . . ."

"I hate to break it to you, Troy, but life isn't the movies. Not every kiss results in some big relationship, or has deeper feelings around it."

"Annie, are you okay, sweetie?" Shirley asks.

Jeff turns to face her. She looks like she was just punched in the stomach. "I'm fine," she answers with a weak smile. "He's right, it didn't mean anything, and it was a mistake. Do you mind if we leave now, Shirley?" She turns and walks out to the car.

Shit. He runs after her. "ANNIE! ANNIE!" But she's already in the car, and Shirley is brushing past him with a muttered "you and me are gonna have a talk, boy." Before getting in the car and driving off. He just stands there, watching the car disappear.

Britta walks up next to him. "So, you and Annie, huh?"

"What? Britta, I'm really sorry."

"It's fine."

"No it's not."

"You're right, it was a very douche-y thing to do. But so was telling you I love you in front of a room full of people. So . . . we're even."

He smiles slightly. "Cool?"

"Cool. So, you really care for Annie, huh?"

"What? Yeah, I care for all of you."

"Mmmhmm."

"What?"

"Nothing, nothing. Have a good night, Jeff. Please try to fix this."

"I was planning on it!" he yelled after her.

Abed walks up next to him. "So, the usual again? Cool. Cool cool cool."

That night, Jeff sends Annie a bouquet of flowers and an "I'm sorry text." She doesn't respond. He sends her one text and bouquet at her house each day. On Monday, he shows up to get coffee, but she isn't there, and he feels a twinge of disappointment. He sends two bouquets and two apologies while she's at work, and another when she gets home. Still no response. The next day, he sends two bouquets to her before she's at work (he's really lucky the florist provides him discounts for all the flowers he buys) and another after she's there, along with another text.

'Annie, really, I'm sorry. Please talk to me?'

'If I do will you stop bombarding me with flowers?'

That hurts, he thought she'd liked the flowers. 'Yes. I promise. I'll do anything.'

'Fine, but we're doing this in person, and you have to come to me.'

So for his lunch break, he wanders into her bookshop. The (rather small) shop seems to be overflowing with flowers, and fine, she might have a point. There's a short little attendant behind the counter who isn't Annie, so he stops and looks around.

"Hello, can I help you?" the attendant asks.

"Yes you can," he answers. "I'm looking for Annie Edison?"

Her face lights up. "Oh, are you the one sending all the flowers?"

He nods sheepishly.

She turns to the back of the shop before shouting "Oi, Edison! Your boyfriend's here!" turning back to him she smiles. "We've been wanting to meet you since she started disappearing once a week and coming back with a smile, but especially these last few days."

Annie comes rushing out of the back, looking flushed. She stops at the sight of him. "Jeff? What are you doing here?"

He holds up his phone. "You said to come to you, so I did."

She nods. "Okay."

"So, I kind of owe you an apology."

She snorts. "Kind of?"

He groans. "Okay, I definitely owe you an apology."

She looks at him for about a minute. "I'm waiting."

He groans. "You're going to make me do this here?" He asks, nodding over at the counter, where the attendant has been joined by three people, and they're doing their best to make it look like they're not spying. Unfortunately for them, Jeff is friends with six of the nosiest people in the world, which means he recognizes spying when he sees it.

She sighs. "I see your point. Guys, I'm taking lunch, see you in 30," she grabs his arm and drags him out of the shop, before looking at him again.

"Look, I want to do this right. Let's actually get lunch. I'll buy."

At the restaurant, they order and sit down with their food. Annie looks at him expectantly again.

"Okay. I'm sorry."

She snorts. "Oh really? I didn't get that with the million bouquets and texts."

He smiles sheepishly. "I might have gone overboard."

"Might have? Jeff, my apartment can barely fit all the flowers in it!"

"Fine I did go overboard. I was just really sorry, and you were ignoring me, and I don't like when you ignore me."

"Well I don't like when you constantly refer to the best kiss I've had in a while as a mistake."

He groans. "I'm sorry okay. I mean, we had this conversation—it was a mistake. Because you deserve better remember?"

"Yeah, okay. But then you ignore me for a week, and even when you stop we don't talk about it. And when everyone finds out you use the mistake line again? Way to make a girl feel special."

He sighs. "Annie, look. Do you really think people would have had the best reaction if we just left it? Shirley already won't leave Britta and I alone, I don't want to drag you into that! Abed and Troy are halfway to scheming us together already! I was trying to save us all that hassle."

"Really?"

"Yes really. Like I said, Annie, you're my favorite. Out of all the members of our study group, I'd choose kissing you ever time."

She giggles. "I might choose kissing you every time too."

He grins at her, relieved. "So we're good?"

She nods. "We're good. But you still have to buy my lunch. AND you have to take one of the bouquets, there is no room in my apartment."

He groans. "Annie . . . they're purple."

"I'm aware. Purple lilies, my favorite."

"It would mess up the décor."

She snorts "What décor? If anything, it will make your apartment look like you actually live there."

"I resemble that remark."

She just looks at him, with just a hint of puppy eyes.

He groans. "That's sooo not fair. Fine I'll take a bouquet. But if anyone finds out, I'm blaming you."

She grins. "Thanks Jeff."

"Yeah yeah. See if I ever surround you with apology flowers again."

**SIHAB**

Summer continues on much in the same way as before, with a few exceptions. First of all, Shirley yells at him about hurting Britta and Annie on the same night, and warns him to watch himself. After that, things go on as usual between them. Britta spends about a month smirking every time he and Annie do anything together, but when nothing happens between them, that smirk goes away as she starts to pay more attention to Troy. Pierce starts actually spending time in the video game room, complaining about how he misses everything. Troy pretty much acts the same way he did before, accepting the explanation given. Abed confronts both him and Annie at the next dinner and informs them that "you two are the groups new OTP. First it was going to be Britta and Jeff, but their lack of chemistry and your guys' surprising chemistry has switched that . . . it now looks like the OTP is you two, with Britta and Troy as the Beta Couple. I'd just like to remind you that I find the 'will they won't they' plot device to be overused, and would request you cement your relationship soon." After that, he mostly kept out of it, except for shooting them suspicious looks every now at then.

As for Annie, well they went back to their normal meet ups. Except every now and then their eyes will meet and they'll stop talking and stare until either they remember where they are, or something interrupts them. Sometimes he feels her looking at him when their with the group, and sometimes he watches her out of the corner of his eye, and sometimes they brush their hands together when they are walking, or when he drives her home (and he always drives her home). This interaction just goes over everybody else's head, except for possibly Abed.

So yeah, overall Jeff enjoys his summer. He gets to hang out with his friends, and he makes progress in getting his old life back, and then it hits him. When summer is over, he has to go back to school. Which sucks. And not just because it's school, or Greendale. Because when they go back, that means he has to deal with the repercussions of walking out on two women who had just confessed their love for him.

**AN: Only a few more chapters to go!  
**


	5. Newspaper 101

**AN: So I really like the idea of Newspaper. In my head, Abed, Annie, and Jeff are always on it, and it's like, the one successful thing at Greendale, and it wins them awards and stuff, but the study group is completely oblivious to the fact that they're even on it, let alone how good it is.**

**Disclaimer: I own nothing.**

**Summary: The first day back goes better than expected.**

_Newspaper 101_

The first day back goes better than expected. When he arrives, there is a moment of dread, before he gets out of his car, parking in the same spot with the same worker moving the traffic cone. However, as he starts to walk through campus, there isn't anybody pointing at him snickering. He doesn't get confronted about 'what were you thinking you jerk?' he isn't informed that he's a horrible representation of mankind. It seems like everyone has forgotten about the whole thing.

Well, everyone but one person that is. "Jeffrey!" The Dean greets him.

"Dean Pelton."

"I'm so glad to see that you decided to return to our little school. I was worried that after the shame of last year's little Tranny Dance debacle, you would decide it wasn't worth it."

"Yeah, well, Britta and I worked it out, so it's good."

"Out of curiosity, who did you choose?"

"Nobody."

"Oh, why? Is it because you have your eye on . . . someone else . . . perhaps?" The Dean angles closer into him.

Jeff just gives him a look he hopes conveys how weirded out he is. "No, I just decided to do the right thing and choose me."

"Oh. Well that is completely understandable, I suppose," and with a pat of his bicep, Dean Pelton is gone.

After that, Jeff makes his way to the study room, where after a group hug, which he is assured is extremely necessary even though it had been two days since they last saw each other, they all sit down in their old seats. It's just like old times, really, except that instead of sharing glances with Britta, Jeff shares them with Annie (and don't think he doesn't notice her sharing them with Troy). Then it's off to Anthropology, where they run into Chang, and in the inane 'I wanna join your study group' struggle that follows, everybody forgets about the Tranny Dance.

So yeah, Jeff figures the year is going pretty well. Until Friday, when all the Newspaper stories come in. they all have one thing in common—they all have something to do with the Tranny Dance. From "Romantic Drama at the Tranny Dance—Who Did Jeff Choose?" to "Britta Perry—Martyr or Madman?" to "Professor Slater—Where Did She Go?" they all have to do with the most humiliating dance of his life. So he calls a staff meeting.

"Okay, people," he starts, as all the reporters stare at him. "Why are we doing a whole issue based off of five minutes nobody cares about?" At the ensuing chatter, he makes a 'cut' motion with his hands. "People, we've talked about this. One at a time or nobody will be heard. Okay, go", and they go in a circle right to left.

"It was the moment most people remember of last semester, so they're probably curious about it," Gary says.

"Everybody loves a love triangle," Monica says.

"As a group you guys are practically celebrities, everybody loves a celebrity," Vicky says.

"There is a lot of fodder here," Mark says.

"The fact that three of the people involved work here makes the articles more legitimate," Neil says.

"I think it's a way to get the truth out without actually doing it in person," Annie says. Jeff shoots her a hurt look that he hopes screams 'you're supposed to be on my side'.

"For once it's nice to not be the person making the worst decisions on campus," Chang says.

Jeff, along with everyone else, just turns to look at him. "What are you doing here?"

"What, am I not allowed to be a journalist? First your study group, now the Newspaper. It's because I'm Asian, isn't it?"

Jeff sighs. "No, it's because you're insane."

"Oh. But Jeeeeff, I thought we were friends."

Jeff exchanges eye contact with everyone. "Fine. But only a trial run for Newspaper. One mistake and you're gone."

"Oh, thanks, you guys won't regret this!"

Jeff sighs. "So you're all against me, huh?" Now everyone refuses to meet his eyes. "Abed. What's your take?"

"I think it's a good idea. As a group, we got resolution during summer hiatus. This causes the viewers to feel cheated. Although we've resolved everything, this will be a good way for viewers to get the same resolution without bringing the drama into study group."

Jeff groans. "Okay people, we'll go with the whole 'Tranny Dance' theme." Everyone starts to move. "However, there are rules. One: we focus on the dance as a whole. Two: you have to get permission from everyone involved to use their names and likeness," everyone groans, "come on people that's the rule for every issue and you know it. If we want to beat City College in the awards again it has to be legal and you know it. And finally, whoever wrote the article about Britta? Change it to Madwoman or we will _never _hear the end of it." Everyone nods, going off to do whatever they need to do. "Edison?" Annie looks at him. "My office."

He walks into the office, holding the door open before closing it behind her. She leaned against the window, he sat on the desk. "What do you want, Jeff?"

"Do you really have to ask?" He grabs his copy of her story. "A Hero's Heart: Why Jeff Winger Isn't the Bad Guy."

She blushes. "I don't see the problem."

"A, the title is cheesy. We've had this discussion. If you want to win anything, you need to cut down on the cheese. Second, you didn't even ask my permission. And C . . ." he trails off.

She straightens up. "What?"

"Never mind."

"No Jeff, what's C?"

"Don't you think you're being a little obvious?"

She stiffens. "What do you mean?"

"Come on, Annie. This article practically screams 'I made out with Jeff after he left two woman behind."

"What are you talking about?"

"'Mr. Winger cannot be held responsible for his actions during the dance—or anything that might have happened after?' 'Even though some of his actions that night might not have been honorable, he got lost in the moment?' I mean come on Annie."

"I don't see what the problem is—that doesn't scream what happened."

"Close enough! There's more in here and you know it!"

"Why are you so insistent nobody knows what happened?"

"Why are you trying so hard to put it out there? This article is crap and we both know it! You'll never win anything with this!"

"Well I'm sorry, Jeff, not everyone is as obsessed with winning as you are! I'm more concerned for a friend! You realize this is the only article that doesn't villainize you, right?"

"Well it doesn't have to romanticize me! I mean did you think I'd appreciate this? Is this your way of trying to win me over?"

Annie's face falls. "Well, I didn't think I'd need to. I'm sorry for trying to be a friend." She opens the door and storms out.

"Annie!" he yells, running to his doorway. "I'm sorry! Edison!" she ignores him. He turns to see the entire Newspaper team staring at him, even Chang. "What are you all looking at?" he snaps. "You've got 24 hours to get your articles to me!"

As he heads back into the office, he hears Gary talking. "So who bet Friday for 'what day will Jeff and Annie have their first big fight of the year?" Vicky raises her hand.

"Wait," a new staffer starts, "shouldn't we do something?"

"Nah, this happens all the time," Vicky says.

"Yeah, that was classic Jeff and Annie," Neil agrees.

The new student still looks confused, so Abed steps in. "Jeff and Annie are stuck in a classic sexual tension loop. Because of the age difference, and the fact that, deep down, they are both insecure, they are stuck in the stage of will-they-won't-they, which they express with long looks, stolen glances, and tense fighting and making up. Don't worry, Jeff's guilt will eventually cause him to give in and apologize, Annie will forgive him, and they will be back to normal."

Jeff closes the door with a scowl. He doesn't have sexual tension with Annie! They're just good friends. And yeah, he can't get the thought of her kiss out of his head, and he actually cares about her and what she thinks, and she can make him feel guilty, but so what?

He spends a few hours in his office—and he isn't hiding by the way, or moping, or letting the guilt sink in. he has work to do on the newspaper layout, and that takes time. Eventually though, he gives in, sighing, grabbing his phone, and walking out of the office. "I'm leaving," he announces to the workers. "I want your papers in my office by tomorrow." He's already on the phone as he walks out.

He shows up outside her crappy apartment with the bouquet later. For the first time since the whole flower thing started he's actually nervous. Yes, this is their thing, but he went kind of far this time. Still, he only stands outside the door for five minutes before knocking.

When she answers, she's wearing a loose tank top and shorts. "What are you doing here Jeff?" she kind of sighs.

He brings the flowers from behind his back and offers her a genuine smile. "I'm sorry."

She stares at him. "It seems like you always are."

"Annie," she looks down, avoiding eye contact. "Annie. Please."

"Why is it that you always think flowers will get me to forgive you?"

He swallows. "Are the flowers not enough?" she just looks at him. "Annie. Come on. I'm really sorry. What . . . what do you need?"

She looks confused. "What?"

"What do you need to forgive me?"

She snorts. "What makes you think you want to know?"

"Whatever it is, I'll do it."

"Really?" she asks with a raised eyebrow.

"Yeah, I really am sorry."

She sighs. "Well, the flowers are a good touch," she backs away from the door, causing him to look at her in confusion. "Well, are you coming in? I don't want to do this in the hallway."

He nods, walking in. she takes the flowers, putting them in a vase she has prepared already. He opens his mouth, but she puts a finger over it.

"What I need from you is to listen, do you understand?" He nods. "What I want is for you to start treating me better. I know you were frustrated today, but you can't keeping taking your frustrations out on me. It's not fair—to either of us. I also want you to stop being so wishy washy about the kiss. You can't just keep saying it's a mistake or be ashamed of it in front of other people, but then be less ashamed of it when we're alone." He opens his mouth, but she copies his shushing motion. "And finally, I want you to stop apologizing because you think you should, or because Abed told you it was okay, or out of some misplaced sense of guilt, or because you think I won't be able to handle things otherwise, okay? I mean, obviously, you're not the 'I'm sorry, purple lily' type of guy. And I don't need your pity—only apologize if you mean it."

She stops, and he's momentarily heartbroken. Is that what she really thinks?

"Can I talk now?"

She nods.

"Okay. First of all, you're right about the frustration—sort of. Yes, I do take it out on you, but I don't mean to," he stops to run his hand through his hair, not caring that he's messing it up—the day is over. "It's just—you're safe, you know?"

She shakes her head, looking confused.

"Look, the others, I can't take it out on them, because they'll leave. I mean, Britta takes my sarcasm better than anyone, but even she would get fed up at some point. Not you though. With you, I know that I'll never push too far because a) I don't want to, and b) you'll never leave. The others—everyone else, they might leave, but I don't have that fear with you. So I'm sorry, I'll try harder to control my frustration in the future."

She nods, but her face has softened a bit.

"But you were run about the frustration too. It's just—you're better than that, Annie. That story was so far beneath you and your talents, and I was angry because in a way you lowered yourself, and what for? Some stupid article? You're the best reporter we've got, we all know it, and that story was the worst of the week. And about the kiss—have you ever thought what would happen if the school found out about it?"

"You'd become the bad guy, right?"

He stared at her. "Annie, I'm already the bad guy in their minds. Have you ever thought what would happen to you?"

She shook her head.

"Okay, let me tell you. You would become the bad friend. They wouldn't care about the truth of the night—they would latch onto Vaughn, and I would be just another guy you stole from Britta. We're lucky that didn't happen in the study group, it easily could have! I don't want you to be villainized, okay? Also," and he gets sheepish here, "I kind of like that we have one kiss that is ours rather than the whole schools, okay?"

Her face softens with shock and something else he doesn't want to define here, and she smiles slightly. "Okay."

"Finally, I'm not apologizing for any of those reasons. I mean, yes, originally the flowers were Abed's idea, but only the first time, I swear. After that, I kind of thought of it as being our . . . thing I guess. And I've only ever apologized because I meant it. I'm not that good of a guy, I wouldn't do it just because someone thought I should or to make you feel better." He takes a deep breath, because he's about to be more honest than he has in a while. "And you're right—I'm not a purple lily type of guy, at least not usually. But something about you makes me not only feel like I could be that type of guy, it makes me want to be that type of guy. Okay?"

She nods, and the look on her face is awfully close to the look Vaughn put on her face when he sang her that stupid song. "Yeah, okay."

"I'm forgiven?" he asks, giving her a tiny smirk.

She nods. "You're forgiven."

He grins, pulling her into a hug, and he holds her as she buries her face in his chest. They stay like that for a few minutes before he pulls back. "About that story . . ."

She pulls back, looking vulnerable. "Was it really that bad?"

He winces. "Kind of? It probably wasn't as bad as I freaked out about, but it was nowhere near being up to your standards."

"I'm sorry. I just wanted to give your view of the thing," she blushes.

He nods. "No, after thinking about it, I totally agree. Everyone else is getting an article about them, I should get one about me. But I don't think you should romanticize me. I think I could give you a few quotes, and you could write a kickass article off of those."

"Really?"

He grins. "Totally. If it was anyone else, I'd insist on doing it myself, but I think you could make me look better that I can."

She pushes at him, making a face. "You're so full of it."

"Um, yeah, I thought we'd discovered this already."

"Should I use that as a quote?" she asks with a devious smirk.

"Annie Edison. You are getting way too dangerous for my sanity."

"Is that a yes?"

He gives her a look. "That's a 'no' and you know it."

She smirks. "Shucks."

He just grins at her.

"Well, come on, give me those quotes. I have less than 24 hours to make you look good."

He grins. "I have complete and utter faith in you."

The article, as he suspected, is awesome. It makes the center of the Newspaper, and the whole issue itself puts them on the map for the "Intercollegiate Newspaper Awards", so they're all good. Best of all, though, is the look on Annie's face when her article wins her $500 in award money.

**Author's Note: I hope you enjoyed this. Along the way, I figured that the Newspaper people are all cheering for Jeff and Annie to get together. Also, Jeff is in denial. But he gets better, I swear!**


	6. Intro to Holidays: Halloween

**Author's Note: Second to last chapter! I have to admit, **_**Epidemiology**_** is one the Season 2 episodes I haven't seen, since the DVD won't come in, and the syndication skipped over it. So I sort of stole Annie's outfit, but nothing else.**

**Disclaimer: Again, I own nothing.**

**Summary: After the Tranny Issue of the newspaper, Jeff spends a surprising amount of time at Greendale.**

_Intro to Holidays: Halloween_

After the Tranny Issue of the newspaper, Jeff spends a surprising amount of time at Greendale. Between Newspaper, which is going to beat City College this year if they have to live there 24/7 and only eat vending machine food, study group, and study group adventures, he has limited free time.

He and Annie don't have another fight until the Halloween party. The reason for the fight is his lack of costume, and her choice of costume. Annie is upset because, once again, he didn't dress up. This is in spite of her best attempts to get him to do so—luckily for him, she stopped just short of the Disney eyes. First she wanted to do a Couples Costume (which, no, they aren't dating or close to dating and there's no reason to give _anyone_ more fodder than they already have). Then she just wanted him to dress up, which again, no. He refuses to obscure himself with a dorky, dumb costume, and he has no desire to wear a 'sexy' costume to Greendale of all places. She finally gives up bugging him when he threatens to come as a 'nudist or a streaker'.

However, this conflict sets the stage for the big argument that happens later. That's because Annie shows up dressed as Little Red Riding Hood. Which, sure, on the surface, that sounds like a completely acceptable costume. But it's _not_. Because he can see the ways the other guys are looking at her, and the fact that they are obviously really enjoying it. And that's a problem. Because this is Annie, and they try not to sexualize her.

What's worse is that after a while, looking is apparently not enough. Slowly, more and more guys ask her to dance, and really, the music is crappy Halloween music, how can anyone dance to this? Annie apparently doesn't realize what's going on, smiling shyly at everyone who asks, and gleefully dancing with any guy that comes her way. After trying and failing to convince the others to do something, Jeff spends the rest of the dance keeping an eye on her—he's not stewing or jealous, but these guys can be dangerous. It isn't until some lame shirtless guy who came as a surfer asks her to dance that Jeff has to do something.

"Excuse me," he says, causing them to turn to face him. "But she owes me a dance—it's kind of an annual thing, you know."

"Oh," the guys says, sounding disappointed, before smiling at Annie. "Well, I'll just get the next dance."

Annie giggles, causing him to pull her roughly into his arms. She looks at him in confusion. "Jeff, what are you doing?" she asks.

"I'm dancing with you, isn't that obvious?" he asks.

"I'm just surprised, considering you've been spending all evening glowering in the corner."

"I have not been glowering. I've been looking out for you!"

"Why? What possible reason could you have to look out for me?"

He stares at her incredulously. "Annie. Have you SEEN what you're wearing? Who even gave you the bright idea to wear that costume? Did you go to the sleaziest place you could find and rent it?"

Annie looks at him, offended. "Oh, come on Jeff! You didn't want to do a couples costume, so I had to do something last minute. At least I dressed up!"

He chuckles darkly. "Oh you dressed up alright. And now a significant number of the guys in here want to dress you down!"

"Jeff! Gross!"

"Well, Annie, sometimes the truth _is_ gross."

"That doesn't mean you have to say it. And these guys have been pretty sweet!"

"Sure. Sweet. Until they get you alone and turn in to ravenous beasts."

"Ravenous beasts? I'm beginning to think the only ravenous beast in here is you!"

This throws him off. "What?"

She smirks at him. "Anytime a guy—or in this case, lots of guys—comes anywhere close to showing interest in me, you freak out."

"Are you accusing me of being jealous?"

"Are you denying it? I mean, you already mentioned noticing the costume. Are you one of the guys who wants to—what did you say—'dress me down'?"

He freezes as well as he can while still dancing, because that is _not_ what this is about. "What? No! Why would you think that?"

"Let's see—you stopped short when you saw me. Then you proceeded to glower in the corner until somebody shirtless stepped up, before asking me to dance and holding me very possessively. What else am I supposed to think?"

It's not true, and even if it were, it wouldn't matter, so he panics and starts to back pedal. "Annie. I think you're reading into things. I'm not jealous, I'm not attracted to you. We are just friends. I'm just trying to protect you. Whatever else you think is there, I don't know what you're talking about."

Her face falls, before it hardens into a smile. "Well then," she says. "You don't need to worry about me Jeff. I know what I'm doing and I can handle myself. I don't need a father figure who protects me—I haven't had one in a while."

Crap. He'd gone too far again. "Annie."

Her smile turns into a smirk, before it falls into a more flirtatious position. "Songs over Jeff. I'll see you tomorrow." And with a giggle, she turns, going to dance with the shirtless wonder and leaving him alone.

"Left alone on the dance floor?" Britta comes up to him with a smirk.

He growls. "I don't see anyone dancing with you."

She just laughs, and they go to get drinks. "So, what were you two talking about?"

He stared at her. "Why do you want do know?"

She shrugged. "It looked like the conversation was kind of tense."

He sighs. "It's none of your business."

She looks at him. "You know Jeff," she starts, "I know things have been awkward between us when we're sober, what with the Tranny Dance and all that. But I do appreciate your friendship, and I want us to get back to normal. And you know you can tell me anything."

He smiles at her. "I want that too Britta. And I do know that."

She grins brightly. "So, what were you talking about?"

He laughs. "None of your business." At her look, he shrugs, "just because I _can_ tell you doesn't mean I _want_ to."

She sighs. "It was worth a try." After a moment of silence, in which he stares at Annie and she stares in the direction of where Troy and Abed were last seen, she nudges him. "It's a shame though."

He's amused. "What's a shame?"

Even with all the crap you pulled last year, she still looked happier dancing with you than any other time of the night. This year she just looked like she couldn't wait for it to be over with."

He takes a big gulp of his punch before glaring at her. "This is all your fault," he declares.

"Wait, how?" she asks.

"Because. If I hadn't thought you were hot, I wouldn't have formed the group, and we wouldn't be friends, and I wouldn't know what _guilt_ felt like."

She laughs. "I gladly take full responsibility."

He ends up leaving the dance early, citing the excuse of 'having better places/parties to be', and being accused of going home to sleep. He laughs it off, instead taking the familiar route to the flower shop. When he gets there, Maurice looks up.

"Winger, my man!" he greets happily. "Did you screw up again?"

Jeff just sighs. "Please tell me you have purple lilies."

Maurice laughs. "That would be a yes. And of course I do, I keep them just for you. I never know when you're going to provide me with business."

"Yeah, well I'm glad my screwing up provides you with business."

"And amusement. Never forget the amusement."

At that moment, Maura, Maurice's wife walked in. "Jeffrey!" she greets, giving him a hug and ignoring the long suffering glance exchanged by the two men. "You here to pick up flowers for your girlfriend again? She is one lucky woman."

Jeff freezes. "What? She's not my girlfriend."

Maura just laughs. "Sorry. So how did you anger your wife this time?"

"She's not my wife either! We're just friends." At their skeptical looks, he amends. "Good friends."

They exchange glances. "Boy, you are in here every other week buying flowers for that girl. Maurice here doesn't even give me flowers that often. At least not living ones."

"Hey, when you own a flower shop it's bad for business to keep the best ones for your wife. I can't help that!"

Jeff interrupts, knowing this can go on for a while. "Not that this gushy talk is gross, not fun, or awkward to listen to or anything, which it is, but can I get my flowers so I can leave you two to it?"

Maurice rolls his eyes, but they make the exchange quickly. As he leaves, Maura yells after him. "Have a good evening Jeffrey, and good luck with your girlfriend!"

"She's _not_ my girlfriend."

He gets back to school after the party was over, but Annie's car was still in the parking lot, since, as always, she was cleaning up. He parks next to her car, and sits on the hood of his, waiting for her to come out. It took about a half an hour, but she finally does, walking through the parking lot with her head down, digging in her purse for her keys, and hasn't she learned anything living in that neighborhood? It's not safe, especially with that outfit on. When she's still about ten feet away, she looks up and stops at the sight of him.

"Jeff?" she asks, looking confused.

He smiles, standing from the car. "Annie."

"What are you doing here?"

"I just wanted to apologize."

She rolls her eyes. "Oh my gosh, Jeff. You don't have to apologize every time you upset me. You're not my father, or brother, we're friends. We're going to fight and be angry with each other, and that's okay."

He sighs, speaking up. "I know."

She looks at him in confusion.

"What?"

"I know, Annie. I know I don't have to apologize to you every time. Can't I do it just because I want to?"

She looks at him, confused. "No. no you can't. Because when you do, it makes it seem like you care for me more than you do, and I read into things, and we fight again, and it's an endless cycle, so can we please just walk away from this as friends who hang out with the group and only alone on occasion?"

"No."

She looks at him. "What?"

"No. I like what we have Annie. I've never had a relationship like this before. I mean, you get me to apologize, because I actually feel guilty. You're my best friend Annie."

She sighs, shifting and smiling sadly. "I know. That's kind of the problem."

He finishes walking the rest of the distance to her, pushing the flowers into her hand. "I don't feel like a father for you."

She freezes. "What?"

"I feel nothing like a father for you. Okay?"

She nods. "Okay." But she's still looking at him, now she's more uncertain than before.

He sighs. Shifts. He doesn't want to say it, but she has always been able to get him to do the things he doesn't want to do. "And." He starts. Stops. She's looking at him expectantly. "And I might have been . . . jealous. Tonight." He looks down.

She scoffs. "You were definitely jealous."

He nods. "Okay."

"Okay." She wraps him into a hug.

"I am sorry," he mutters into her hair.

"I know."

"I kind of suck at this."

She hums. "I kind of figured that out a while ago."

"And this isn't some magical fix it."

"I know."

"I just . . . I don't want to lose my best friend, okay?"

She nods. "Okay."

He pulls back to look in her eyes. "It's not all in your head."

She finally relaxes fully, getting the same look she got during their 'who am I attracted to' table stare down. "I sort of knew that," she nods. "But it's nice to hear sometimes. And it hurts when you accuse me otherwise."

He nods. "Sometimes I feel like you can see right through me. And I panic and say things I don't mean. But I really don't mean them."

She nods. "I'd figured that out too."

He pulls back, holding onto her shoulders. "I kind of screwed up our dance earlier, didn't I?"

She nods with a shy grin. "You really did."

"Can I make it up to you?" he asks.

She looks at him, surprised. "There's no music."

"Funny you should say that," he grins, before pulling her over to his car, opening the door, and fiddling on so that the radio was playing but wouldn't drain the battery. He turns back to her. "A dance, Milady?"

She smiles softly at him, "If you insist, Milord."

She places the flowers on his hood before he wraps his arms around her. Her hands rest on his arms, and she rests her head on his chest, and it is the happiest he can remember being in a while. He smiles. "By the way, Annie?"

"Hmmm?"

"You look really good in that outfit."

She pulls back to grin at him, meeting his gaze and holding it. "I know."

**Author's note: I really hope you enjoyed this, please, please, please review!**


	7. Studies in Romantic Closure

**Author's Note: Final Chapter! This will be the first multichapter story I've ever finished, which I think just shows a) how much I love this pairing/show, and b) how much your support has helped! Thanks for all the favorites/reviews, and I hope you enjoyed the read! Oh, and bonus points to whoever can find the **_**Leverage**_** reference! Oh, and this is the scene that inspired it all—basically the study group finding out Jeff has a flower place on speed dial for Annie.**

**Disclaimer: I own nothing.**

**Summary: Everything comes to a head the next time he buys her flowers.**

_Studies in Romantic Closure_

Everything comes to a head the next time he buys her flowers. This time, it really isn't his fault. See the thing is, last year, Annie's birthday had fallen right after the break started, and she hadn't told any of them because she didn't want them to worry about it. In the ensuing year, however, Jeff had been made Editor, which meant he had access to information about his staff, and on bit of this information was their birthday. And the newspaper always celebrated birthdays. Her birthday falls on the day classes end, so he announces that they will be throwing her a surprise party that day.

The part where it's kind of his fault is that he forgets, sometimes, that the study group isn't a part of everything he does. They are all taking at least 2 classes that have members in it, they see each other every weekday, and most weekends, and they get all up in each other's personal lives. Also, Abed and Annie both work for Newspaper, so it feels like everything he says or informs people about they know, and vice versa. Except he forgot that it's only Abed from the study group who was there to hear the announcement, and Annie never talks about things like her past or her birthday if she can help it. So they don't know. And he doesn't realize this, because he's planning the Newspaper party, so he figures someone else is planning the Study Group party, and they're not talking about it because Annie has freakishly good hearing.

The Newspaper party goes great. Annie is smiling throughout the whole thing, for once enjoying being the center of attention. The cake, provided by Gary and Vicky, is approved of by everyone. Even Chang acts mostly normal through the whole thing. Jeff is feeling pretty good about the whole thing, and he can't wait to see what the study group cooked up—and he can tell Annie is excited too. So when they arrive and the room is empty, and Annie's face falls, he's confused. But he figures they're waiting for after study group to celebrate. But when no one even mentions it, he knows something is wrong.

Annie lasts about a half an hour, during which Shirley, Britta, and surprisingly Pierce monopolize the conversation with an argument about whether marriage is still relevant today. After that, though, her face starts to fall, and she does the "Disney Face", but these tears aren't being used to manipulate Jeff into doing something.

"Oh, pumpkin, what's wrong?" Shirley asks.

"It's my birthday today, and you all forgot," Annie says, and he can tell she's trying to keep calm.

"Wait," Troy starts, "It's your birthday?"

"Yes," Annie hisses.

"Well, how were we supposed to know?" Britta asks. "It's not like you told us."

Annie takes a deep breath, and Jeff tenses, preparing himself to leap out and go after her. "Right. I'm sorry, I thought I wouldn't need to, considering the _entire Newspaper_ somehow knew." And she gets up and walks off, leaving her stuff behind. Jeff is too slow to catch her, she's disappeared by the time he reaches the door.

From behind him, he can hear the reactions to that proclamation.

"Oh, that not nice," Shirley sighs.

"What does it even matter, it's just another day set up by the institution to keep commercialization alive," Britta announces.

"What's she so upset about?" Pierce asks. "It's not like it's her 21st or anything, it's not even exciting."

"It seems we've fallen into the cliché 'forgotten birthday' trap. I should have seen this coming," Abed muses.

"Wait," Troy says. "You guys are still on Newspaper?"

The noises of agreement made by the study group are what causes Jeff to turn around, which causes them all to look at him. "Crap," he says out loud. "Okay, Shirley, you're right, it's not nice, but we're going to fix this," (oh, that's nice), "Britta, I know you are a jaded person, but try to realize that Annie is not, and that she's probably bothered by the fact that the people she considers her family forgot her birthday—even a 'happy birthday' wish would have done." (A sigh, crossed arms, and a guilty expression.) "Pierce, this is your favorite. Are you really happy we forgot her birthday?" (A look that is as close to remorse as Pierce gets.) "Abed, the one time I could have used a warning, really?" (A sheepish look, followed by mutters of not being perfect.) "And finally, Troy, of course we are still on the newspaper. How do you not know this?"

"Well, to be fair, I didn't know either—it's not like you talk about it or anything," Britta says.

Scratch the who 'knows everything about everyone' thing. His study group is full of oblivious idiots.

"Yeah, we don't really talk about it because it could detract from the shenanigans of our group, and our audience isn't here for that," Abed says, quieting when Jeff shoots him a quelling look.

"Okay. We'll talk about this later. You're lack of knowledge about three of the people your closest to isn't what you need to feel guilty about right now."

"Right, the birthday thing," Troy says. "Do you think naming one of my fish after her would be a good present?"

Jeff doesn't want to know. "No. Anyway, we need to fix this. She was really upset." He sits in his chair. "This is all my fault."

"How is this your fault?" Britta asks. "You remembered her birthday."

"Yeah, but I only announced it to Newspaper—I should've realized you didn't know it either." He looks to his side. "Okay, it's also Abed's fault."

"Well if it's your fault, why don't you fix it?" Troy asks.

"I don't know if Jeff is really up for making Annie feel better," Pierce starts. "You know, because he's gay?"

"Pierce, what does that have to do with anything?" Jeff asks.

"Well, its obvious Annie is into straight men, so her stripper needs to be straight."

This prompts more outcry, which Jeff silences. "Pierce, nobody is stripping for Annie."

"Does anybody have any plans on how to make Annie feel better?" Shirley asks.

More chatter, but before Jeff can stop it, Abed slams on the table. "I vote we let Jeff take the lead." At the skeptical response he gets, he continues. "As the group leader, Jeff know how to get us to work better than anyone. 'We all know what we can do, but he knows what all of us can do, which gives him the plan, it gives him the leverage'. If we follow his lead, we can make this up to Annie. Okay?" everyone gives a grudging response. "I said okay?" they agree. Abed looks at him. "It's up to you, boss."

Jeff nods, coming up with a plan quickly. "Okay, the library closes at 10. It's" he checks his watch "4:30 right now, so we need to do this in no more than 3 hours." Everyone nods. "Shirley, you're on food duty. We need a nice spread, and some sort of cake type thing, pronto."

"I'm on it, Jeff."

He nods. "Pierce." Pierce jerks up in his chair. Do you still have access to the sound stuff from when you were with Vaughn?"

Pierce glares at the mention of his former bandmate, but nods.

"Good. I need you to bring us a good sound system to play music on."

"Of course you do."

"Can you do it?"

"What do you think I am, 3?"

Jeff gets serious. "Pierce." Pierce looks at him, meeting his gaze. "This is for Annie." He pauses to let that sink it. "Can you do it?"

Pierce's gaze gets serious, meeting his. "Yes."

Jeff nods. "Good man." He turns his gaze to the blonde. "Britta," she meets his eyes. "The sound systems here only take CD. You're the only one I know who still uses a Walkman. Bring me a collection of CDs from your most popular bands," she starts to protest, "Remember. This is for Annie. Please try not to make this into a political statement."

Finally, he turns to the fantastic duo. "Troy, Abed." They snap to attention. "I need you on decorating duty. Crepe paper, balloons, the whole nine yards." They nod, turning to leave. "Oh," Jeff adds, causing them to turn to him. "Catch." He throws them his phone. "Speed dial 8, tell them you need 5 of Jeff Winger's usual, charge it to his tab."

Troy looks confused, but Abed just meet his eye. "Jeff. Are you sure?" His gaze darts around to the rest of the group.

"Yes. The place is called Marcel's but the owner is named Maurice. His wife, Maura, might make snide comments about me having a girlfriend or wife. Do not believe her. Oh, and give my phone back when you're done. Abed, how do you think we should arrange the room?"

Before that line of thought can be followed, Shirley interrupts. "Jeffrey, Marcel's run by Maurice is a flower place."

He nods. "I know."

"And you have them on speed dial, a usual order, and a tab?"

He nods. "I do."

Britta cuts in. "But why, Jeff? Why are you having us order flowers?"

Troy finishes up the call, tossing his cell phone back at him. He meets Britta's eye with his own. "Because," he starts, bracing for the reaction. "We're going to need a lot of Purple Lilies."

Two hours later, everyone has returned. They are putting the finishing touches on the table before Jeff goes to get Annie. Which is when Shirley and Britta corner him, forcing him to sit down.

"So boy," Shirley starts. "These bouquets look familiar."

"Really?" he asks. "They're one of a kind, I've been assured."

Britta rolls her eyes. "Stop being difficult."

"I honestly have no idea what you are talking about."

"The flowers. The ones Annie has been receiving on a regular basis for over a year. Those were from you?"

He opens his mouth to make another smartass response, but closes in at the looks on their faces. "Maybe?"

Shirley narrows her eyes.

"Okay, okay! Yes, they were from me."

"Explain, boy," Shirley answered.

"Okay, you remember the Halloween party last year?"

They nod.

"Afterwards you," he nods at Britta, "said something to me about Annie and how crappy of a friend I was. And I didn't think anything of it, but she kept acting like she expected me to pretend she never existed. So I felt guilty. And I wrestled with this guilt for hours, but I didn't know how to apologize—she was flinching when I talked to her, guys. So I went to Abed, who was the only one who noticed, for help and he gave me the idea for flowers. And after that, it kind of became our thing." He shrugs.

"Wait you and Annie had a thing last year?" Britta asks.

He nods.

"What about our thing."

"Well, at first I didn't realize it, then I didn't want to admit it. By the time I did, our thing was pretty much over with."

Britta nods at this, as if it makes since, which given the glances she's been exchanging with Troy, it probably does. "Wait, so all those flowers were you apologizing?"

"Um, yeah."

"When did you fight?"

He opens his mouth to respond.

"No, seriously, we would have noticed you fighting that much. There were flowers at least once a week for a while there."

Dammit, he thought they'd been more subtle than that. "Remember how you guys didn't know about newspaper?" He waits for the nods. "Yeah, Annie's lead reporter, which basically means we argue about stories all the time."

"But they died down."

"Yeah, we've basically accepted that we're going to fight, but we've also accepted that we can't have big apologies for every single one. And really, it's only _stories_."

She's not done though. "Wait, Jeff, do you have feelings for Annie?"

He stares at her in shock. "What?" he manages to get out.

Shirley is looking at him warningly now. "What?"

"You bought her flowers. So many times the guy has your order memorized and knows you by name. That's way more than you ever did for me, or Slater, who was actually, you know, your girlfriend. So, do you have feelings for Annie?"

"I don't think that's any of your business," he says, feeling the familiar trapped feeling he always got when this topic was brought up.

Shirley leaned in threateningly. "Answer the question, Jeff."

He sighed, closing his eyes and slumping in his seat. "Yes."

"What?" Britta asked.

"Yes, okay?" He said. "I have feelings for Annie. How could I not? She's freaking awesome, and she's hot. And I know it's creepy and that she's too good for me and that nothing can come from it because she deserves more than I can give her, okay? I just can't help myself."

When he opens his eyes, Britta is looking at him sympathetically. "Are you sure about that?"

"What? Of course I'm sure," he's getting angry, because she has got to be kidding him. "I've had feelings for her for almost a year, maybe even longer. I was just lying to myself."

"No, not about that," Britta dismisses. "Are you sure you can't give that to her?"

He snorts, ignoring Shirley's shocked look. "Are you kidding me, Britta? You know me. I'm not that sort of guy. I couldn't even make it last or do that with Michelle, how can I with Annie?"

Britta nods. "Except you already do that." she meets his eyes, and the look in her eyes surprises him. She doesn't look angry, she looks stubborn. "Look, Jeff. I only asked about your feelings because you buy her flowers. You drive her places, even when you have no desire to go. You sit next to her during movie nights and at lunch. You put aside your cool façade to help her with her ridiculous clubs, and you put together a pretty kick ass birthday party for her. And yes, I know what type of guy you are. I also know that you are ten times that guy when Annie is around."

Shirley is nodding along, looking at him sympathetically.

He laughs shakily. Swallows roughly. He meets Britta's eyes. "Thanks," he smiles cheekily. "Now if you, excuse me, I have a birthday girl to find.

He pulls out his phone, already composing the text. 'where are you?'

'why do you even care?'

'you shouldn't be alone on your birthday.'

'like any of you care about my birthday.'

'did you not like the newspaper party?'

'yeah, my favorite part was how the study group party totally beat it.'

'we deserve that.'

No response.

'come on, where are you?'

Again, no response.

'Annie. I don't want to do this over text. Where are you?'

'I'm at my house, if you care.'

'oh I care. See you in 10.'

When he pulls up to her building, she's sitting on the curb. He rolls down the window. "Annie, are you crazy, what are you doing? Get in the car," and okay maybe he panics a little.

She rolls her eyes, getting in before he drives off. "Okay, we're in person. Where's the bouquet and we can go back to being normal, where we forget each other's birthdays."

He reaches over to grab her wrist with one hand. "Annie."

"Don't you dare tell me I'm overreacting."

"You're not overreacting," he sighs.

She looks at him. "I can't believe you guys forgot."

"For the record," he starts, "I didn't forget your birthday." He can feel her unbelieving eyes on him. "I just forgot to tell everyone."

"I don't understand," she sounds confused.

They pull into the parking lot and get out of the car.

"The newspaper party was my idea. I have a list of all your guys' birthdays in my office. I announced the date to the newspaper, but you know how sometimes it feels like the study group takes up all the corners of your life?"

She nods. "Yeah, like how you can't do anything without someone knowing?"

"Yeah. Well I forgot they weren't on newspaper. I honestly thought they knew. I'm sorry Annie."

She sighs. "I guess its okay. I should have said something."

He squeezes her wrist before letting go. "So, how about we make it up to you?"

She looks confused. "What do you mean?"

He grins at her. "Do you trust me?"

"What?" she asks, and he puts his hands over her eyes.

He leans down to whisper in her ear, getting all up in her personal space. "Do you trust me?" he thinks he feels her shiver.

"Yeah," she breathes out.

He grins. "Come on, then." When they get to the study room, and everyone yells surprise as he uncovers her eyes, her face lights up.

"You guys did this for me?" she asks.

"Um, yeah," Troy says. "It's your birthday. I know I don't celebrate, but we couldn't let our favorite Type A go without."

At first Jeff feels guilty, but as Annie's smile only gets brighter as the party goes on, that guilt fades away and he just enjoys himself. This includes indulging in two of Shirley's brownies, and dancing with the group, Shirley, Britta, and Annie (while everyone stared at them, of course).

Later on, after everyone had left, it was just him and Annie. "So," he started, "did it meet your approval?"

She grins, coming to sit on the table with him. "I loved it, thanks Jeff." there was a pause before she continues. "And I'm glad to see you didn't leave out the flowers."

He smirks. "You're not going to tell me to never order them again, are you?"

She smiles softly at him. "No. I kind of think of them as our thing, don't you?"

He feels his expressions soften. "You know I do."

She nods, looking away. He takes the opportunity to stare at her. When she looks back and catches him, she drops her head and blushes.

He sighs, shifting closer to her. "I think we need to talk."

She freezes, before nodding. "That would probably be for the best."

Standing up, he holds out his hand. "Care to dance?'

Confused, she stares at him. "There's no music."

He smiles. "Do we need music?"

She smiles shyly, "usually that's what people dance to."

He chuckles. "I think we both know this is just an excuse for me to hold you."

She gasps. "Jeff."

"Annie." He meets her eyes seriously. "Dance with me."

She nods, taking his hand and letting him wrap her up.

After a while, he speaks. "So," he starts. "I was talking to Britta earlier."

"Really?" she murmurs.

"Well it was more of an interrogation."

There was a pause, and they shifted closer to each other. "What about?" she asks quietly.

"Well, she and Shirley figured out about the flowers. That caused it to turn to . . . other topics."

She pulls back to look at him. "Like what?"

"Like the fact that I treat you better than I treated my first real girlfriend in forever."

She hums. "I bet that was interesting."

He laughs awkwardly. "That's one word for it." She nods, and he pulls her back into him. "She did say one interesting thing though."

"What was that?"

He pulls back to look at her and stops moving. She looks back at him with a nervous expression. "You know I care about you right?"

She nods, looking confused. "Of course you do."

He chuckles awkwardly, looking down. "There are things I've been telling myself for over a year now." He looks up into her eyes. "And in one conversation, she has me rethinking everything I thought I knew about us."

She's confused and intrigued. "Jeff . . ."

He cuts her off. "Annie." He shifts again, holding both her hands with his. "This is really hard. Could you not talk until I'm finished? Just this once." He hates cutting her out, but if she talks he'll never get this across.

She nods, looking confused at worried.

"The thing is, Annie, you're fantastic." She looks confused again. "Really, you are. You are one of the best, nicest, most entertaining people I have ever met, and I am sorry I didn't see how awesome you were at first start." She's starting to blush. "Do you remember debate?" she nods. "Well, you took down your hair, and that was it, Annie. It was like a switch was flipped in my mind and you went from being 'good friend, not a prospect' to 'holy crap'. Just like that. And it might have gone back to normal, but then you kissed me, and after that I could never see you as just a little girl again."

He trails his hands up to cup her face. "So I told myself things to protect myself. First it was that you were too young. Then, when it became obvious you were the most mature person I know, I told myself I wasn't good enough for you. Do you remember what I said to you after our kiss?" she nods. "Well you do deserve that, Annie. You also deserve someone who can be in a relationship with you, who will always come after you, and who is honest with you. And I told myself that, me being me, it was never going to happen. But here's the thing, Annie. Britta made me realize—I buy you flowers to the point that I have a tab, which is way more than I've ever done for anyone, ever. When we fight, I always find you, if you don't find me first. And I'm more honest with you than I am with everyone—admittedly because you see right through me to the deepest parts of me and you aren't scared. So Annie?" he questions, reaching up to wipe her tears away and run his fingers through her hair.

"Yes?" she asks.

"I'm going to kiss you," he says. "I'm going to kiss you because I care about you more than I've cared about anyone else. I'm going to kiss you because you are one of the most beautiful people I have ever known, inside and out." He pauses, rubbing the back of her head gently as he holds her gaze, implanting this moment into his memory. "And finally, I'm going to kiss you because that's all I want to do every time I look at you, and I'm sick and tired of holding myself back."

So he does.

**Author's Note: So, it's finished! This was supposed to be a quick one-shot, and it turned into a 7 part fic. Originally the last 3 chapters were supposed to be one, but I split them up so it would be easier on the eyes. Thanks to all of my readers, I sincerely love you all! Please let me know what you think. I hope Jeff wasn't too ooc at the end, I have about a half a page of speech I had to cut because I felt like it was too much. So it's 3 in the morning now, I'm going to bed and I will revise this tomorrow.**


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